Filipe Luis has heaped praise on new team-mate Diego Costa, saying he is better than both Eden Hazard and Neymar.

"I have seen [Juan Carlos] Valeron do things nobody could do".

'He always scores the opening goal.

The 30-year-old provided another timely reminder of his enormous ability during the global break, netting a hat-trick as Argentina crucially beat Ecuador 3-1 to avoid an embarrassing failure to qualify for the World Cup. "Nobody does that as well as Diego Costa".

It appeared at one stage over the summer that the France global could be moving on, but interest from the likes of Manchester United eventually came to nothing and the 26-year-old committed to a new five-year contract.

He told El Mundo: "Messi is so good that he could win the league with only a mediocre team, which is not the case [with Barca]".

"When Messi or Cristiano [Ronaldo] get 50 goals, people think that the defences are bad, but when they are not there, there are no other goals and we are the same defences".

"I know that amount sounds insane, but it is good that money is paid for players because it shows that a player can generate that value".

"He would have had many offers from many teams".

"In the end, for all the talk about other clubs, he always wanted to stay here and he is still here, happy and liking it".

'And that is fair as Griezmann is doing great here.

"For sure, he can stay much longer". We hope the fans understand this and everything gets back to normal, although he has been scoring goals, and goals cure everything.

Griezmann has three goals in seven appearances this season, having plundered 26 in all competitions last term and 86 in just 167 outings for Atletico.